Advantages: Sporty, Roomy, Leather seats
Disadvantages: Not for 5 people

...Recently I was given the chance to test drive the Astra 2-door Coupe 2.0i 16v Turbo. What a car to drive. For safety, the car has many features including: ABS braking system Drivers & front passenger airbags Height adjustable head restraints Side impact beams Energy absorbing steering column and many, many more. Other standard features are: Air conditioning Internal pollen filter 6 speaker CCR 600 stereo radio/cassette with 4 CD Disc autochanger 17" alloy wheels and others. The look of the car from the outside, I feel, shows real initiative on Vauxhalls part. It looks very sporty, but inside it is roomy and very comfortable with the leather seats, for 4 passengers. The boot is made versatile by having a split 60/40 folding rear seat and load-through to boot opening. *THE DRIVE* As soon as I switched the engine on I... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Rewarding Handling, Torquey Engine, Driving Position
Disadvantages: It's a Vauxhall, Depreciation

...usable and seems to have been put together properly. The driving position is good, I’m over six foot and can (just) fit comfortably, all the pedals are light which makes the car particularly easy to drive, however as I mentioned earlier the Vectra gear box means it can be difficult to change gear smoothly. Like the previous model the best aspect of this Astra is it’s engine. It may only be a 1.6 and has just 8 valves rather than 16, but it’s very torquey and pulls well, even when the estate is fully laden there is still enough grunt to overtake safely. It’s also a very responsive engine, which combined with plenty of grip and feel in the steering makes for fun driving if you can find a quick twisty road (A74 into Moffat). I never thought I’d ever say fun and Vauxhall in the same line! As for resale, well fortunately this is my parents... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Looks, performance, comfort
Disadvantages: none

...Purchased a '99T Astra CD 1.8 16v as my second ever car and I am very impressed. Used to have a Rover 214. Mine is in dark blue and has the Irmscher spoiler and alloy wheels. Looks are excellent espesially with the Irmscher 17" wheels, makes the car look wider and more ballanced. Dark metalic blue looks great but needs to be kept clean!! Black trim is starting to fade (a problem with all Vauxhalls) but is easily sorted with some back-to-black. Interior looks good and is plain and simple with everything easy to reach whilst driving. Mine has the wood effect dash and gearknob. Could do with having better seats, (maybe the "sports" seats from the sxi or sri models) especially on long journeys, but overall it is comfortable. Build quality seems good, mine is approaching 5 years old and has no major marks or rattles. Interior light... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Looks sleek, some nice features, comfortable
Disadvantages: Lack of 'feel' - a bit wallowy

...of people. It's models have ranged from vehicles suitable for the 2.4 children generation, family models with enough space for kids and a big labrador, right up to the famous GTE models with huge 16v engines and more torque (talk?!) than my mother! In recent years Vauxhall has expanded the range further with it's very sleek looking Coupé models, drawing in people previously not caught by the net. Young high-flyers in expensive suits are now happily parting with their hard-earned and really don't mind that their sporty new motor has a previously very uncool Vauxhall badge on the front. That's not to say that it's just the Coupé model that's sleek and smart. Emma (my very pregnant other half!) picked her new company car up early last month. Having had a new Astra in her last job for a few months we knew what to expect, even though this one wasn... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Comfortable, looks great, VERY economical
Disadvantages: Can be too "electronic"

...My dad had a choice of new company cars. These ranged from the Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Fiesta through the Vauxhall Astra and Ford Focus to the Vauxhall Vectra and Ford Mondeo. In the end, he decided to go for the Vauxhall Astra Club 1.7 CDTI (100 HP) hatchback in pearlescent black paint. First impressions are great. It's a fantastically good looking car and bears a resemblance to the new VW Golf. The interior styling is very modern and it feels quite solid - a world away from the previous Astra which was dull and boring. The seats are supportive and comfortable - I drove 250 miles and got out of the car as comfortable as if I'd just popped up to the shops. The equipment levels are very good with electric front windows, air-con and alloy wheels standard on the Club. It can be too electronic at times - turning on the headlights happens... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Price, fuel economy, cheap insurance, cheap parts, nice looking
Disadvantages: Drab uninspiring interior, basic equipment levels, horrible seat trim, needs the pokier 16v engine

...I had this car up until last year. It was a 2001 Mk 4 Astra Club in Metallic dark blue with a 1.6 8v engine. The engine to be honest was a major bone of contention for me, leading to me getting rid of the car and upgrading. The 1.6 8v is the same ageing engine used in the Cavalier and frankly just wasn't good enough in a modern car like this. Carrying on with the bad points, the other major bugbear with this car is the frankly awful interior. One gets the feeling vauxhall deliberatly choose the worse colours to use in the basic Astra, I got horrible grey velour seats (yes the same colour as in the cavalier!!) and a horrible brown/beige/black colour dashboard which was franlkly irritating to sit behind. However, good points for this car definitely outweigh the bad, especially if (unlike me) you are not after good performance from your car... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: quite and nice performance.
Disadvantages: Style

...What things have gone wrong with the car? No faults to report. Aircon clunks when turned on, but settles down after a few seconds. General comments? I was never a Vauxhall fan until I got my Astra about 2 years ago. The Astra was brilliant, but my job has moved me into working in the city centre more, so the Astra was heavy on fuel and a bit too big for on street parking. I traded in the Astra and got a new Corsa - Silver Lightning SXi 1.2 16v. '04 spec with the new front grille, making it look a bit like a Mk5 Astra from the front. The seats in the Corsa are pretty spectacular compared to the Astra, my occasional motorway trips are more comfortable, and the sport seats hold you much better than the "grandpa" seats in my Astra Club, during harsh cornering. Even some of my larger friends (I'm talking 25 stone, 6'3" people here... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Looks really smart car
Disadvantages: Not for a small fry, limited boot space for a family

...I've had vauxhall's since I learnt to drive and think they are fantastic reliable cars. I had a 1995 1.4 Astra since it was a baby and in 2007 when I became pregnant my husband decided we needed a newer, more reliable car. So we went searching for a new Astra. After 7 months of owning a new 2007 1.4 Astra I wish I could get my old one back. My husband loves it except that he has to cram the pushchair in the boot and it takes a few attempts before the boot door will close. From a women's point of view it's a nice colour (the dark blue one) but being only 5ft2, although I've pumped the seat up as high as it can go and bring it as close to the steering wheel as I can, I still can't see the bonnet or the boot enough to be confident about parking it. The rear headrests also restrict my view and even if I could see out the back window its... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Performance, spec, reasonable insurance
Disadvantages: Some think the looks are too conservative

...Please humour me as what I am going to do here is actually a review of the Astra 2.0 SRi 16v, but hopefully you will still find it useful. This is the model I have and Ciao don’t seem to have included it on their list of Astras so I’m sticking it under the 2.2 ok?!! Anyway it is basically the same car as the 2.2, just with an ever so slightly smaller engine. I purchased my Astra SRi about a year ago. This was from a Vauxhall dealer I found in Slough after doing a used car search on Vauxhall’s very helpful website. I had decided on the Astra as both the Golf GTi and Peugeot 206 GTi had very similar performance as the Astra but much higher insurance groups. (The Astra 2.0 SRi is Group 11). The price of £11,000 I thought was quite reasonable for a sports model that was just over a year old and only had 8,000 miles... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: So much better, great design and engines
Disadvantages: Looks mild compared to rivals

...Well, it doesn't matter. The Astra is a revelation compared with the old model it replaced, and yet it still goes by the same name; I guess becuase people are femiliar with it. So just how much better is the new Astra than the old? Well, for starters the design is so much better. Admittedly, most previous Vauxhall cars were not that stylish, and the new Astra isn't overly exciting but the 3 Door model is so much more sporty looking than the 5 door. The interior isn't as dull as every car magazine and program will tell you, in fact it is very organised and sensible. Just because the Ford Focus has cutting Edge design doesn't mean the Astra is dull. But my real complaint is about the back seats in the 3 door model. They're SO uncomfortable, that I just cannot sit in them for more than 45 minutes, has anyone else found this... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful